About 35 trip photos mainly taken by Betty
Nolan are posted at www.ritzpix.com in an
album entitled “2009 – France” under member name of Lewis “Buzz” Nolan’s email
address. Email lewis_nolan@yahoo.com
for instructions on how to access. Note: captions were being added to photos in
late 2009.

By LEWIS NOLAN

Nov. 14, 2009, Saturday – In Paris, France

We slept in a bit
due to the relatively late time of our departure flight for home the next day
and also to give me a little more rest following my intestinal distress
yesterday from eating too much unpasteurized cheese.

Lewis Nolan by Napoleonic War Canons on
Display at Invalides Courtyard in Paris

I ate only lightly at breakfast, with just a
small scoop of the ship’s dining room scrambled eggs on the buffet line, two
slices of ham, a banana and a glass of tomato juice. Betty had snagged a snack
in the early risers buffet served separately.

At lunch, we both
ate lightly again, limiting ourselves to green salads. I added to my salad a
bit of ham on sliced French bread.

Skies were cloudy
and rain was forecast. We both wore our thigh-length, cloud-blue Gore-Tex
parkas, which identify us as an American couple on foreign soil.

We walked down the
Seine River waterfront – where Viking actually owns its docking space within
sight of the Eiffel Tower - for about a half mile. We admired docked vessels
including some live-aboard cargo boats. We happened to ask a very nice French
lady – she was fashionably dressed for her morning walk - for directions. She
like many Parisians was fluent in English. She was kind enough to walk up
several banks of stairs climbing the bluff to the busy street above and point
out the short walk to the nearby RER subway station.

After some fiddling
around that probably exasperated several commuters who seemed to be in a hurry,
we finally figured out how to insert enough French coins in a ticket machine to
get our 1.6-pound tickets to the RER station near the Invalides. The military
museum complex was two stops down the tracks. From the station we walked
perhaps a mile down a busy, broad boulevard and around a track to the historic InvalidesArmyMuseum
and its magnificent memorial to Napoleon. The self-made Emperor of France
became one of the great shakers of the world. He very much remains France’s
national hero a century and a half after his death – certainly the equivalent
to America’s George Washington, England’s William the Conqueror and Italy’s
Julius Caesar.

The Tomb of Napoleon
was built as “The Royal Chapel” from 1677 to 1706. Its purpose was to showcase
the glory of Louis XIV, the French monarchy and its armies. It was called “The
Temple of Mars” during the French Revolution. It later became a pantheon under
Napoleon’s rule, with the tombs of his generals Turenne and Vauban inside.

Later, the body of
Napoleon himself was encrypted there. The remains of his two brothers, Joseph
and Jerome, Generals Bertrand and Duroc and two illustrious marshals – Foch and
Lyautey – are also installed in the shrine to Napoleon’s glory. All are
likewise entombed in ornate sarcophagi.

In 1989, the golden
dome over the stadium-sized Tomb was re-gilded with 12-karat gold; elaborate
paintings on the inside of the stone building were restored. In 2009, admission
to the celebratory structure was 18 Euros each – about $27 for Betty and me –
and well worth it.

In 1840, the
government of France ordered that Napoleon’s body be returned from the remote
island of Saint Helena in the South Pacific Ocean where he died of mysterious
circumstances after being sent there. He was deported to the extremely isolated
island after his ultimate defeat at Waterloo by
British General Wellington.

The Eglise du Dome
was redesigned and rebuilt by the French government to accommodate Napoleon’s internment
there in 1861. His body rests in five successive coffins, made of tin,
mahogany, lead, lead again and ebony within a monumental sarcophagus made from
red quartzite. The massive burial chamber rests on a green granite base and is
the focal point of the structure.

Sculptures surrounding
Napoleon’s last resting place represent his many military victories. The eight
most famous ones are inscribed in the polychrome marble floor.

His civil
achievements in reshaping the government of France are represented on
additional sculptures. All in all, the tomb that celebrates the life’s work of
a very great man is a breathtaking monument. It still annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors
including French who venerate the memory of Napoleon’s countless contributions
to the country and its way of life. Seeing the magnificence of the country’s
homage to the man made me reflect on how often British historians to this day
write books that denigrate the achievements of their country’s sworn enemy.

The “musee de l’Armee” in what is known as
the “Hotel National des Invalides also displays dozens of classic canons
mounted in neat rows in an outside courtyard. We didn’t visit them on this
trip, but various rooms in the complex also display artifacts of other wars
fought by France,
including World Wars I and II. A separate gallery is devoted to the country’s
hero of the 20th Century, Charles De Gaulle.

We did stop at the Invalides
complex souvenir shop, but found it was mainly devoted to history and picture
books in French and other languages.

With rain
threatening to start falling any minute, we got directions from a policeman to
a nearby taxi stand. We rode through a heavy drizzle in a late-model Mercedes
Benz driven by a Frenchman with little knowledge of English. But with our
smattering of a few words of French and gestures, we finally got him to drive
us to the boat dock for eight Euros. That fare was less than what a boat
employee had estimated in advance. Maybe the driver was an America lover.

Back in the boat, we
noticed that the rain had let up at last even though it had interrupted our
outing. We repaired to the lounge and had several handfuls of complimentary
dry-roasted peanuts while I enjoyed two bottles of low-alcohol Beck’s beer.

We struck up a
conversation with an affable, large working man from Australia who went by the nickname
of “Tiny.” He had surprised his girlfriend at dinner last night with engagement
ring and suitable hoopla by ship’s staff. Others in the dining room were
offered drinks of his Aussie rum he had bought locally. Betty and I offered him
some tips on several great sights in London,
where Tiny and his fiancée were heading in a few days. Then I returned to our
cabin for a much-needed nap.

Betty stayed in the
lounge to visit with some of our fellow passengers who were just returning from
an all-day bus tour of Paris. We had passed on the provided excursion because
of previous trips that included most of the scheduled sights.

Later, we hooked up
with fellow passengers Paul Grannet and Gloria Solomon as well as Walter and Marie
Whimpenny, all of New Jersey. We all were joined at our dinner table by Greg
and Patty Zillka of Avon Lake, Ohio, where he is a retired teacher and serves
as town mayor.

We had a big enough
table for our party of eight because Betty had scooted out of the Captain’s
Farewell Party - where we enjoyed complimentary champagne - to stake out a large
table in the dining room. Dinner was again superb, with Betty having Beef
Wellington while I went for fresh broiled halibut served with a fancy scallop.

Most of the boat’s
passenger contact staff paraded through the lounge to music and the appreciative
applause of the passengers. Our table all agreed that the food and crew service
on this boat was excellent. It was the best Betty and I had ever experienced,
even though our accommodations on the retiring ship on its last cruise before a
major refit fell below expectations.

Betty and I retired
at 9 p.m. to pack and make ready for a 4:45 a.m. wakeup call. That was our time
to get moving early enough so we could make the 6:30 a.m. taxi ride to the
Paris Airport.